Oksana Tanasiv

Artist

Oksana Tanasiv was born in Ternopil, Ukraine. Her passion for art was ignited as a young child when, while only four years old, she received her first paint brush from her father. In the early 90's she had the opportunity to formerly develop her talent by attending art classes at the Chortkiv Pedagogical School. Oksana continued to develop art skills through years of practice and hard work. Although she dedicated her formative years to earning degrees in Psychology and Business at two Ukrainian institutes, she remained faithful to developing her artistic skills by painting whenever time allowed. After moving to the United  States in 2004, Oksana overcame the challenges of being in a new country without speaking the language and without financial resources. In a few years she mastered her new language and  graduated from the University of Connecticut as a Bachelor of General Studies. Despite her overwhelming workload, she never lost her artistic passion. Over time, she developed collections of art which includes architectural scenes, landscapes as well as a series Woman World. She uses individual technique of Swarovski® crystals on canvas to create their jewelries and dresses. Some of her pieces contain up to 1,000 Swarovski® crystals clued to canvas. Her most recent series of work called Dollar Art. It consists of political and social images clearly influenced by her memories of the Ukraine and economical situation in the world. For creation of this collection Oksana is using a technique of dollar bills on canvas.